The Emulsifier
IllustrationAnalogy★★★★OIL AND water don’t mix. This concept is exemplified in any bottle of salad dressing where things have settled and the oil and water have separated. In order to bring that oil and water back together, the bottle must be shaken. However, the togetherness won’t last forever.
As soon as the bottle sits for a while, the ingredients will segregate again. They go back to their own department. They go back to separate bedrooms. They go back to separate seating places.
They go back to separate communities. They go back because it is intrinsic to their nature that they will not mix. Mayonnaise does not have to be shaken even though it is also comprised mostly of oil and water. This is because mayonnaise also contains an emulsifier—egg.
An emulsifier is that which brings things together that otherwise could never come together. In mayonnaise, the egg brings together two entities that would not normally mix with one another. The egg infiltrates both so that they are able to come together and be a solid substance. The cross of Jesus Christ acts as an emulsifier to bring people together—even those who would not normally come together.
The point
Oil and water separate naturally unless an emulsifier unites them. Similarly, Christ is the emulsifier uniting people who would otherwise never mix—a vivid reconciliation analogy.